KOALAS are listed as Vulnerable in Queensland.
Anyone who has koala sightings ( dead or alive) from their property or from any suburbs or roads along or around the proposed Park Ridge Connector Route could you please email these sightings to Anne Page This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please include -
1. the approximate date of sighting ( or time of year and year) if possible
2. how many koalas you saw
3. a specific location ( eg street address number, street name, suburb name with post code )
4. what was the koala doing at the time you observed it?
Why report dead animals?
This is positive evidence of presense of animals in area - and easier to photograph.
Please take photos if you can.
There are areas along the proposed Park Ridge Connector Route that are listed under DERM (Department od Environment and Resource Management) mapping as Essential Habitat for Koalas.
On the internet go to - http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/property/mapping/mapsonline.html#wildlife_online
then select the link to State Koala Habitat Maps and enter your Lot on Plan for your property ( you can get this from your rate's notice).
There is other online mapping that you can also access on this same link e.g. remnant vegetation mapping, regrowth mapping and wildlife online. Just click on those links and use your lot on plan to send a request for an electronic map.
Koala State Planning Maps identify certain areas as high koala bushland, medium koala bushland and low koala bushland as well as areas suitable for rehabilitation for koala habitat.
There are very few areas in the Park Ridge Connector Route that were visited by DERM officers to do field survey checks to confirm koala habitat values for the Koala State Planning Maps, but two of them are close to the proposed PRC route
(a) Jerry's Downfall Reserve - medium value bushland
(b) a large site at the end of Virgil Rd that extends east and meets at the end of Dandaraga Ct - high value koala habitat at the end of Virgil Rd ( on east side) and medium value habitat on rest of block.
(c) a property on Hawkins Road ( Stockleigh) - high habitat value and medium habitat value
Under the State Koala Planning Policy development in koala habitat must be mitigated first - that means the proposed road corridor must first demonstrate that every effort has been made to AVOID koala habitat. Offsets are only a last resort when all other avenues have been explored.
Has Main Roads done this for the Park Ridge Connector Route?
There are concerns about the accuracy of the State Koala Planning Maps generally as very few sites were ground truthed, and the Australian Koala Foundation has their own koala mapping that they use. You can access the Australian Koala Website and enter your own koala sightings online https://www.savethekoala.com/koalamap.html
The biggest threat to koalas is the loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation.
PUBLIC MEETING @ PARK RIDGE PUBLIC MEETING @ PARK RIDGE PUBLIC MEETING @ PARK RIDGE
TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2011
7pm
Park Ridge (Baptist) Church Main Hall
3922 Mt Lindesay Highway Park Ridge 4125
(Take the exit off highway at Park Ridge and follow the eastern service lane for the Mt Lindesay Highway – brick building with car park area provided)
NO LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY IS VIABLE
We want koalas not new tollways. We want quolls not more multi-lane roads. Bushland habitat is home to many native wildlife and wetland areas like Jerry's Downfall which is part of Chambers Creek Catchment Area provide critical filtering system for the rivers and creeks of Logan.
Bushlands wetlands and river systems all contribute to those essentials to maintain human life - clean air, clean water and food. Sustainable development, meaning ecologically sustainable, requires that our human settlement - and moving around - does not destroy the natural envionment to introduce more built structures.
COME TO THE PUBLIC MEETING TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2011 @ PARK RIDGE @ 7pm - SAME VENUE PRC INFO SESSIONS
Contact Karen 3802 2353 , Rod 0408 740 144 or Anne 3297 0624 for more details and contributions to meeting.
See STANDING AGAINST HIGHWAY
Residents are asked to participate in the Logan City Council's phone-in and web-based community koala survey on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October 2011
Report Your Wildlife Sightings here
Council would appreciate any sightings (or evidence) of threatened or locally significant wildlife you may have encountered in Logan, by submitting the following sighting details. You may also provide records of any deceased animals, such as roadkill animals, as this information is also important.
For the phone-in survey, please call 07 3820 1103 between 8am and 5pm to record your sightings from the weekend.
Information that we will be collecting on the day includes sex, health, location, behaviour and the trees species in which it is located. This information will help us obtain local data about koala distribution and inform planning and management. Of course if you do not know all of this, LOCATION is most important - other details help paint a better picture.
Thanks for helping with wildlife sightings - at all times.
The koala in the image above Babe was rescued from dogs in the Jimboomba area 2009. Legislation requires the koala to be released in the same general area after recovery. Read some of Babe's story here.
Report of the Senate Inquiry into Koalas
The Report of the Senate Inquiry into Koalas, The koala – saving our national icon, was finally tabled in Federal Parliament on 22 September. It is a very readable document and its nineteen recommendations provide a sound framework for important first steps in improving the chances of saving koalas in areas where their numbers have declined significantly.
Minister Burke says he also welcomes the Report and that he will be working through the Committee's recommendations as well as the extensive assessment undertaken by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee and comments from the public in his own assessment of whether or not to list the Koala under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. While the situation is complex, we believe the Act does lend itself to a vulnerable listing in areas where koala populations have declined significantly or are at risk of doing so.
We call on Minister Burke to find a way to do the right thing and list.
The recommendations can be read here
Of particular importance is Recommendation 17
5.82 The committee recommends the Environment Minister consider options to improve the conservation status of the diverse and rapidly declining koala populations in New South Wales and Queensland to ensure a nationally resilient population is maintained. These options include listing the koala as vulnerable under the EPBC Act in areas where populations have declined significantly or are at risk of doing so.
UNLESS THERE IS FEDERAL LEGISLATION THAT REQUIRES ALL ACTIVITIES WITH POTENTIAL TO IMPACT NEGATIVELY OF THE SURVIVAL OF THE KOALA IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT BE REFERRED FOR FEDERAL JURISDICTION LACA FEARS THAT KOALAS WILL VANISH FROM THE LANDSCAPE OF SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND.
Current Queensland Policy is smoke and mirrors with most developments ULDA TMR road power water infrastructure being interested only in the lowest cost for their 'job'. Future health and wellbeing of any wildlife is not part of the cost of the activity. There have been no detailed seasonal study for any fauna or flora - apart from Melaleuca Irbyana . Claims are being made that species are locally extinct - at the same time residents are reporting active koala movements.
Image above clearly shows a koala crossing the open land on property behind me. My unmowed native grass paddock would prevent me from seeing a koala crossing. Your sightings are invaluable as data to protect our wildlife.
Myrtle rust - gum trees and koalas
Biosecurity Queensland (BQ) is leading the response to myrtle rust by working with industry to restrict trade of infected plants; track distribution and range of host species; and provide advice on minimising its impact. DERM is working with BQ to prevent the disease's avoidable spread. Myrtle rust was first found in Queensland in December 2010. Since then, it has been found in four national parks—Kondalilla in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and Nicoll Scrub, Springbrook and Lamington in the Gold Coast hinterland.
While there is no known threat to people, individuals can help reduce the spread. Since this highly infectious fungal disease affects the main food source for koalas, it would be naive to minimise the impacts this plant disease may have on the long term survival of the koala. Another threat to contend with.
The Myrtaceae family includes many Australian native species, such as lilly pillies, water-gums, paperbarks, turpentines and eucalypts. When severely infected, young plants and new growth may become stunted and, possibly, die. Read more at DERM website.
ARE THEY ENDANGERED?
Every day newspapers and websites report information about the increasing threats to the long term survival of our iconic koala. Community and some political concern has persuaded federal government to have an inquiry to determine the status - level of legislated federal protection that is needed to avoid extinction of Australia's much loved koala.
Federal Minister for Environment MP Tony Burke has the responsibility to make that determination. This will not happen until
How much is a koala worth? How many exist in their natural bushland areas?
Can you imagine a world without koalas?
Where would Australia be without them and the $2.5 billion a year in tourism they help bring in?
This is the value given by CEO Deborah Tabart of Australian Koala Foundation in a recent article about the unique mapping tool available on the AKF website. Although it's free to access, the information cost $8 million and thousands of volunteer hours to develop. Everyone in the world can now look at over 2000 koala habitat sites where 100,000 trees have been individually measured. Landowners can mark their own koala sightings and developers can see where koalas live. Check out the mapping tool here.
Not all landowners are happy to share their land with koalas - developing for housing or industry.In 1923 it was thought that, from an original population of over 10 million, there were as few as 45,000 koalas left in Australia. Now with 80 per cent of koala habitat cleared for buildings, roads, hard infrastrucure and resource exploration that number is far lower. For a koala, 'no tree' means 'no me'. Read the article here.
Unfortunately the property industry feels no obligation to help protect this unique Australian marsupial - claiming that houses would cost more - obviously passing on all costs to the consumer. Their concerns are reported in this Financial Times article.
The current Senate Inquiry into the status, health and sustainability of Australia's koala population with an interim report tabled 13 May 2011, advising that the committee now intends to table its final report on Wednesday, 24 August 2011.
The submissions received can be read here.
The conservation movement - and LACA Logan and Albert Conservation Association especially - believe the long term survival ie health and sustainability of the koala in Queensland will only be achieved with its being listed as endangered under Australia's EPBC Act.
If you share our concerns, consider writing to your representative as well as Minister Tony Burke who is tasked with the responsibility of making a ruling on the future status of the koala. Current management plans and policies do not protect the koala's habitat and food source. Science is still learning about the ecology and behaviours of the koala but I think there is little doubt that if we clear trees for housing then the koala's survival is limited.
Legislation that has planning power, plus tax or financial incentives to encourage and support private landholders to protect biodiversity are part of the necessary foundation stones, if Australia is going to save the koala on private land. NO TREE NO ME - sums up what we need to do.
Workshop to help you write your submission to ULDA about YARRABILBA
Environmental solicitor Jo Bragg from Environmental Defenders Office -
special guest and LACA presentation
7 pm Wednesday 4 May at the
Logan Village Pub ( in upstairs meeting room)
135 Albert St (on Waterford Tamborine Rd )
Logan Village 4207
What are you concerned about?
Is it wildlife, air and air pollution, water, traffic, affordability, sustainablity,
green economics, soil, democracy or others?
Come along and meet others with whom you can network to grow the
Logan Village -Yarrabilba VISION FOR THE FUTURE.
KOALAS - will they survive in Greater Flagstone UDA?
The koala was nominated for listing as a threatened species under national environment law—the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999—and was assessed by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) during 2008-2010. The TSSC recommended that the koala was not eligible for listing as nationally threatened, but noted that reaching a conclusion was challenging due to significant gaps in national koala population data.
The Minister has extended the decision timeframe on the listing of the koala as a threatened species, so that he can consider the Senate inquiry's findings before making his decision. You can follow that process here.
Detailed state or local government funded koala surveys have not been conducted in the areas proposed for UDA although DERM mapping indicates that essential koala habitat exists.
Wildlife Queensland Bayside branch have provided us with a copy their submission as it relates to koalas. The long term survival of our national iconic species is of national significance. Read WPSQ Bayside branch submission here submission-to-greater-flagstone-uda-01-koalas.pdf
While conservation groups like LACA advocate for the koala as a unique species within the local and regional biodiversity, other organizations such as the Urban Development Institute of Australia UDIA told the Senate inquiry that further protection of koalas was premature and would cost much-needed jobs.
Battle of the bulldozer versus a national icon as reported in the Courier Mail here. Koala conservation is an imperative of more than just biological and cultural concern, it is an issue of national identity, international image and reputation. LACA supports the view of the UQ Koala Ecology Group which said listing koalas as endangered would at least provide a "speed bump in the road to extinction".
IF YOU SEE A KOALA PLEASE REPORT YOUR SIGHTINGS TO DERMs WILDNET.
IF YOU NEED HELP WITH THIS CONTACT LACA president Anne Page on 3297 0624 .
LACA submission to the Senate Inquiry for koalas
Inquiry into the status, health and sustainability of Australia's koala population